Maxim AMELIN (Russia) is a poet, scholar of poetry, essayist, translator and publisher. He graduated from the Commercial College in Kursk, served in the Soviet Army and studied at the Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow. He has published four books of poetry and a collection of poems, articles and essays. He has translated Greek and Latin classics (Pindar, Catullus and Carmina Priapea) and contemporary Georgian, Italian and Ukrainian poets. Amelin edited and annotated editions of Russian poets from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, as well as numerous poetry anthologies of Russian and Georgian poetry. He was the initiator and curator of the Anthology of Contemporary Poetry of the Peoples of Russia in 57 languages. Amelin is a member of the Russian PEN-Club and the Guild of Literary Translators. He serves as editor-in-chief of OGI Publishing House.
“Long now you’ve lounged in earth”
Long now you’ve lounged in earth—futile,
useless—but at last your hour’s struck:
you stirred from sleep, roused
your head’s dead yoke, and aligned a crooked
spine, its vertebrae cracking like lightning—
a vast array of thunder’s fearsome
peals, which lead now to the hail stones
these high heavens shed and shudder,
each transforms and tapers on the fly
into droplets thirsting to germinate, akin
to seeds, heedless of how
they’ll sprout, whether as emerald herb,
hazel woods, or some other verdant
shoot… You’ve lounged in earth so long now—
futile, useless—but here it is, the moment
you faithfully tarried till:
for it is better to oversleep
your own short age, disdaining all
earthly vanity, than to grope dimly down
its crenellated top, stumbling across
with hesitant steps and carefree
laughter, preaching “All’s well! Superb!”
That’s why those who don’t know
your true name call you a river of words.
(Translated by Derek Mong and Anne O. Fisher)
馬克西姆．阿梅林（俄羅斯），詩人，隨筆作家、翻譯家、詩歌研究者與出版人，著有四本詩集及一部收錄詩歌、論文、隨筆的合集。畢業於庫爾斯克商學院，曾於軍隊服役，在莫斯科高爾基文學院學習。譯有古希臘與拉丁詩歌（品達、卡圖盧斯和《普里阿普斯之書》）及當代格魯吉亞、意大利、烏克蘭詩人的作品。他選編了十八至二十世紀俄國詩人的作品集及當代俄羅斯和格魯吉亞詩歌選集，並加上註釋。他是《當代俄羅斯各民族詩選》的發起人和編者，該詩選被譯為五十七種語言。阿梅林是俄羅斯筆會及「文學翻譯大師」協會會員，身兼「人文聯合出版社」（OGI）總編。
「你躺在大地上已經很久，渾渾噩噩」
你躺在大地上已經很久，渾渾噩噩，
碌碌無為，鐘聲終於響起
你從睡夢中清醒，抬起
昏沉的頭，伸直彎曲的背脊。
椎骨脆裂，劈啪作響——如閃電
千奇百怪，發出駭人致命的
轟響，驕傲的天空突然間顫抖，
抖落下圓石一般碩大的冰雹，
冰雹在飛翔中變成尖銳的
細長的水滴，就像種子，
渴望發芽，無論如何一定
要長大：無論像翡翠般的青草或者
榛樹林，或者任何一種稠密的
灌木林。——你躺在地上已經很久，
渾渾噩噩，碌碌無為，但那就是——
你忠實等待的東西，時間，——
因為厭惡這忙亂，最好睡過去，
一動不動，沉沉地睡過這短短的世紀，
總好過在黑暗中用細碎的腳步
踏過這凸凹不平的大地。
有時絆上一跤，你也會歡快地笑笑，
並且說道：「一切都好，好極了！」——
因為不知道你的真名，所以
人們把你叫做河流——言語之河。
（翻譯﹕徐曼琳）